1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a small animal restraining or holding device, and particularly to an avian restrainer device by means of which an avian animal is restrained for various treatments.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is often necessary to restrain an animal during various treatments, to guard against excessive movements and possible injury to the animal as well as to the caretaker. This is particularly so if the animal is frightened or hostile. Many types of small animals, and particularly avian animals, are easily frightened when being manhandled, or when placed in unfamiliar surroundings. They have the tendency to bite, struggle violently, and flap their wings, when held by a caretaker, rendering them very difficult to manage if unrestrained. Accordingly it is desirable to provide a simple, effective, and economical means for the temporary restraint of an avian animal to facilitate its treatment.
Several different means for restraining an avian animal have been proposed previously, albeit mostly for restraining domestic fowls. U.S. Pat. No. 1,609,079 issued to J. H. Ford (1926) provides an inverted symmetrical frusto-conical shape holder, whereby a fowl is lowered into the larger opening of the cone which is held up by support mechanisms, until its legs protrude out of the smaller opening at the bottom. This holder restrains only the fowl's legs and does not restrain its body, so that it is free to flap its wings. U.S. Pat. No. 2,107,484 issued to J. B. Lesher (1938), U.S. Pat. No. 2,122,731 issued to C. Summers (1938), and U.S. Pat. No. 2,319,938 issued to O. D. Markins (1943) all disclosed essentially an inverted frusto-conical or funnel shape holder. A common disadvantage of these inventions is that the cone shape holder cannot be operated as a stand-alone device; various support mechanisms are required to hold it in place. Since the holder is fixed to rather bulky mechanisms, it lacks transportability and maneuverability. A fowl is lowered head first into the holder through its larger opening until its head protrudes out of the bottom smaller opening. The head down position assumed by the fowl when restrained is undesirable for certain treatments, such as the administering of oral medicine or food. Yet another disadvantage is that the size of the holder is fixed and cannot be adjusted to fit fowls of different sizes. U.S. Pat. No. 2,188,024 issued to S. T. Van Meter (1940) discloses a holder which includes a frusto-conical shaped band at one end to receive the fowl's neck and its upper body, and a separate clamping plate to restrain the fowl's legs. The cone shaped band and the legs clamping plate are mounted on a base plate. This invention also suffers from the disadvantage of placing the fowl's head below its body, which is an undesirable position for administering oral medicine. Another disadvantage is that the size of the body restraining cone cannot be adjusted to accommodate animals of different sizes. This holder also lacks transportability and maneuverability since it is mounted to a base plate.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a novel device for restraining the body, including wings or upper body limbs, of a small animal, particularly an avian animal, while leaving its head, its legs and the rear region substantially uncovered, for various treatments such as examination, the oral administering of medicine or food, injection, the clipping of nails, the application and removal of leg bands, etc.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an avian restraining device in the approximate shape of a truncated cone, having a means as part of the device, for preventing the animal from backing out of the restrainer from the larger opening.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an avian restrainer which can be folded from a substantially flat piece of pliable sheet material into approximately a funnel shape or a truncated cone shape holder during use, and can be unfolded after use for easy storage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an avian restrainer whose size and shape can be easily adjusted to fit animals of different shapes and sizes.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an avian restrainer which is easy to apply, and can quickly be removed from the animal being restrained.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide an avian restrainer which can be used as a stand-alone animal holder which is not required to be fixed to other support mechanisms.
A further object of the invention is to provide an economical and lightweight avian restraining device which when applied, allows the animal to be placed on a table top, or held by hand with its head upwards, downwards and in any other orientations as desired.
Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art who have benefit of the following disclosure.